back in power. a party that's dominated japanese politics has faced a dramatic comeback. japanese have woken up to something old and something new. the liberal democrats have ruled japan for decades. they spent the past three years in opposition. the lbp have won a strong mandate in the election for loretta house. the liberal democrats have long worked together with their partners in new komeito.

they won 294 new seats, the new komeito, 31. together it gives them a two-thirds majority of the 300 ldps. prime minister of japan took back the leadership. all those seats will allow the ldp to push through their policies. even if the upper house rejects a bill, a vote by two-thirds of the lower house lawmakers can override that decision. the election ends three years in power for the democrats. the dpj had 230 seats coming into the vote. they held on to just 57. the restoration party won just 54 seats. they want to earn an alternative to the established parties. they are anxious to get back to the role they've held almost continuously since the 1950s.

they talk about the ldp's policy plans and what this victory means. >> translator: it's not that voters are coming back to put their 100% trust in the ldp, but rather, it's their answer to the three-year-long political confusion brought about by the democrats. so the big question here is whether we in the ldp can meet the high expectations of the voters. we have to deliver the goods one by one. we will form a coalition with the new komeito party. that's something we've already decided. the two parties will soon coordinate their policies. we'd also like to add for other parties' cooperation in case our policies on a particular subject basically match. on the national security issue, the first thing we have to do is rebuild the japan-u.s. alliance and regain trust between the two

countries. and then we'd like to improve our ties with china. as for the senkaku islands, we retain the stance they are japanese territory. we have to clearly show this policy to the chinese side. on the economic front, unless we change the current situation where annual income dwindles year after year, young people will not be able to have hope in their lives. we have to change this dire situation. that's our mission. we need to get out of the deflation as soon as possible, and that was part of our party's pledge. we will be compiling a sizeable suppleme suppleme supplementary budget. >> as abe prepares to move into

the province's office, noda is preparing to move out. he's also stepping down as the leader of the democratic party. >> translator: at this time, the results of the general election are coming in, and the dpj has been handed a very stern verdict by the people. but it's the people's decision, and therefore, we take it seriously. all the results have been calculated. i have to assume responsibility for leading the party into this very serious position, and i've decided to step down as the head of the dpj. as soon as possible, we'd like to call a meeting of the two chambers to find and select a new party leader. we will include the candidates

who won and those who, unfortunately, lost. i have to consider ways to win back the people's trust, and i'd like to ask my successor to rebuild the party so that it will meet people's expectations. >> several members of noda's government went down to defeat. eight cabinet ministers lost their seats. chief cabinet secretary osa osamu fujimura has been the right-hand man. and jojima only moved into the post last october. this is the first time a chief cabinet secretary and a finance minister has lost lower house seats since world war ii. the democrats have lost a large number of seats throughout japan. let's look at how voters in different regions shifted away from the dpj. first, the three disaster-hit

prefectures in northeastern japan. three years ago, the democrats won many of the seats in the region, which you can see on the left of the map. but this time people in those areas turned against the ruling democrats. if you look at fukushima prefecture, the trend is most obvious. four out of five seats were taken by the ldp. next in the kapt althoucapital ldp went from 4 to 21. and in the restoration party, they were the most popular. the party was created by the mayor of osaka. the dpj lost all its seats. we're joined now by political commentator nakajima. what led to the landslide victory? >> a lot of voters were disappointed with what has been referred to as an experiment with the democrats. the party leaders made a lot of

dreamy promises to voters in the last election. now the voters feel that the leaders missed their opportunity. they promised to cut wasteful government spending, reform the pension system and not raise the consumption tax and the democrats essentially broke all these promises. >> why were voters drawn to abe and his party? >> abe managed to paint a gloomy picture of the democrats and the effect their rule has had on the country. he said the democrats have weakened japan, its foreign policy and its economy. he promised to take a hard stance in relations with china. he said democrats nuclear policy posed a threat to the economy. he criticized noda for lack of leadership in the reconstruction of the northeastern regions. abe said his party would spend more money to speed up that

work. you know, certainly voters seem to have bought his message. >> well, attention was focused on how the third force parties would do this time around. what does their showing have to do with the liberal party's victory? >> if they had cooperated with each other, they could have been a strong alternative to the established parties. at one point they tried to forge a coalition, but they failed to overcome their differences. as a result, it forced candidates to go against each other. they gave they're established parties, especially the established ldp, more chances to win. >> so the ldp together with its partner komeito has won two-thirds majority of the seats. what does that mean?

>> it will give the government a greater chance to implement their processes. they still don't have a majority in the upper house, so members of the upper house will be able to reject certain bills. but with two-thirds majority in the lower house, the leader democrats, with the help of komeito, can override those objections. this may break the deadlock that has plagued administrations for years. but still, sofor example, he was to revidesign the constitution d he wants to upgrade it to a national defense force. that would require changing the constitution. you know, any such changes would

require a two-thirds majority in both houses. so now abe is looking towards the upper house election which is due next summer. >> thank you, mesai. next, u.s. president obama congratulated abe on the liberal democratic success. obama said in a statement that the alliance serves as a cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the asia pacific, and he says he looks forward to working closely with the new government. the liberal democrats' victory sparked a different reaction in japan and south korea. japan is locked in territorial disputes with its neighbors, and some are worried the new government may develop a newhard-line stance. chinese media gave wide coverage to the election. they referred to the ldp's

promise to the passage of the constitution. they want to change the status of the defense forces and turn them into a national defense force. a restless japan will bring new disturbances to the world. stout correspo south korea's immediamedia are expressing concerns. what they call the hawkish ldp will cause frictions with south korea. let's see how the results are affecting the market. we're joined with more on that and other business stories. so yuko, how are the markets reacting? >> abe has given investors some pretty clear signs. he says he'll push for more economic measures and the results of the election has sent the japanese yen tumbling in major currency. the democratic party will pressure the central bank to ease credit further. earlier on monday in sydney, the dollar briefly rose to the

mid-84 level against the yen. that's the highest level in about one year and eight months. on the tokyo foreign exchange, the dollar yen is now trading at 83.99 to 84.01. and the euro also surged against the yen. it's hovering at an all-time high. it's changing hands at 110.01 to 55. let's take a look at things in the stock market. for that we go to ramin mellegard at the new york stock exchange. the election brought big changes. what's happening there, ramin? >> yes, you've gone through some of the currency levels but let's have a look at the opening levels for the nikkei and the topix for december 16. very big gain for the nikkei, 9,888. it did break to 9,500 for a very brief time.

we're still up above 1.5%. we've seen the nikkei rise up above a thousand points since the election in mid-november. many are betting we could see 10,000. we're just over 100 points off that. let's not forget there are a couple key issues which may cause some bumps in the road. let's not forget japan is in a technical recession and the reports, which we covered, did show a big drop in the number for the last quarter reflecting the economy's domestic picture. it was down at minus 12 compared to minus 3 the previous quarter, you can see there. also a lot of market observers in the wider picture of the global stock markets are looking at the u.s., and if there's no resolution there to the u.s. fiscal cliff, that could also be a major drag on global markets which could reflect here on the nikkei as well. so market play is really looking at the new administration, and if they can actually enact some

of the election pledges that they put forward to boost the domestic economy. now, with shinzei abe set to become japan's next prime minister, a lot has happened in the currency markets already to reflect the aggressive inflation targets to boost the economy. so let's have the levels here. the weaker yen has really played into boosting the nikkei into the buildup of the elections on sunday, and currently right now, the dollar yen at 84 even to .5 on the offer side. i can tell you it was trading at the 82 levels last week, so the yen getting weaker there on the dollar. let's have a look at the euro/yen as well. that's trading at 110.55. it actually popped up to 111 a couple hours ago before the stock market opened. it's come down a little bit, but you can compare that to 109 when stocks closed on friday, and 105

yen this time last week. many analysts believe a target of 2% inflation and his intentions to push for more baggage could keep the yen on track. in fact, a lot of analysts i've spoken to in the past week say there may be a total shift on the outlook for the yen previously seen as a safe haven, so we'll see how this plays on the market. but definitely a big boost for the nikkei and topix this afternoon. >> thank you for that. ramin mellegard reporting for us at the new york stock exchange. eu announced an unprecedented link with singapore. negotiators from the eu's executive arm said they reached a basic agreement with their wour counterparts of the southeast asian state. exporters will have to wait a little longer to take advantage of the deal. eu member nations must approve

it first. singapore's politicians must also approve certain domestic procedures. eu officials say paths should open their financial services and insurance markets. european auto exporters will also have a new market to exploit, with singapore agreeing to recognize eu safety standards. negotiations now plan to speed up free trade talks with other nagz su nations such as vietnam and malaysia. the consumer price index for november will come out on tuesday. the cpi in the country rose 2.7% in october from a year earlier. on wednesday, they will release trade numbers for november. they were in the red for the fourth straight month. on the same day, we'll find out if the u.s. housing market continues to recover. the commerce department will release housing starts for november. new housing construction grew for three months in a row through october. the bank of japan will wind up a

regular two-day meeting for its panel on thursday. in november the lbj promised to keep monetary policy unchanged. also on thursday, the u.s. will release a final dpg reading for november. they've already released the gdp growth upward saying the economy expanded at an annual pace of 2.7% during this three months. that's all for me for now. i'll leave you with how the markets are starting off this week here in asia.

voters in tokyo had an additional choice to make on election day, and they chose former vice governor nelki to lead their prefecture. he is the hand-picked successor of former tokyo governor ishihara. >> translator: tokyo is the center of japan, the heart of the country. i believe the revival of the entire nation depends on tokyo. i want to start the revival here in tokyo. >> inose has been the deputy governor since 2007. he's involved in management reforms of tokyo electric power company following the accident at the fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant last year. inose says he'll carry on his predecessor's policies including a campaign to host the 2020

summer olympics and boosting the capital's preparedness for major earthquakes. north korea is marking the first anniversary of the death of former leader kim jong ilon monday. it is expected memorial events are taking place around the country. north korea officially announced kim jong il died of a heart attack last year. now they have invited scientists and technicians in the launch of the long-range missile last week. they are going to report on the success of the launch. as of the first year anniversary, they broadcast a

ceremony for the late leader. journalists noticed that people attending the event had been demoted to general. but several north korea military leaders have also been demoted or dismissed this year. people say kim jong ilis tightening his lead on the military. they say senator john kerry is the most likely candidate for u.s. secretary of state. he is currently serving as chairman of the senate foreign relations committee. the 69-year-old senator was the democratic nominee for president in 2004. in the last election campaign, he helped obama by playing the role of his republican opponent, mitt romney, in mock debates. carrying u.n. ambassador to the united nations, he and susan

rice were both seen as candidates to replace hillary clinton. he became the highest post as susan rice rescinded her name from the nomination. the number of people killed after typhoon bofa slammed into the southern phillipines earlier this month has risen to more than 1,000, the high casualty rate attributed to the government's failure to distribute mats to residents. it forced hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate and more than 6 million people are in need of assistance. it's feared the number of dead will rise further as more than 800 people remain missing.

they say the government failed to distribute hazard maps to the town that it drew up several years ago. they have asked the nation's parliament to launch an investigation. another typhoon hit the same island last december, killing 1,200 people. a second consecutive year of serious typhoon damage is fueling criticism of the government's lax anti-disaster measure. next, world weather in tokyo looking quite different today. yesterday it was nice and sunny. >> hi, good morning. yes, it was a very beautiful day yesterday in tokyo, but things are going to change. we're expecting some showers and lower than average temperatures. this is due to a low pressure passing south of japan. this system is bringing colder air from the north, so temperatures will drop down to 10 degrees here in tokyo today. meanwhile, tomorrow we're expecting some snow showers and

strong winds for northern japan skpp the system comes in from the west. a big high pressure system is asserting its dominance across mongol, china. also chillier temperatures. stronger winds and warmer air from the south, producing light showers in southern china as well as taiwan. some showers expected for southern parts of the phillipines. that includes amintanau which is still dealing with the aftermath of typhoon bova. 10 degrees in tokyo. that's about 8 degrees cooler than yesterday. very cool up north, 19 degrees in ulan, minus 1 in beijing and things will get even cooler as we head into your friday here. in the south, warmer than average in hong kong with a high of 24. moving into america, wet and windy conditions common for the

west, a series of lows moving into the western pacific and heavy mountain snow. blizzard warnings are posted for parts of washington and oregon. snow about 50 centimetres and gusts of 80 kilometres power on the cars. things are getting very active. here things remaining wet and windy on your monday. out east thundershowers for the southern parts of the plains up into the east and northeast. icy participation for southern quebec and parts of the new england states, and there will be a risk of severe weather happening in southeastern texas and central parts of the gulf state. there will be a risk of thunderstorms, gusty winds and even tornadoes into tonight. severe weather will be shifting toward the east as we're heading toward your monday. despite rainy weather, temperatures way above average. 14 degrees in washington, d.c. that's about 60 degrees higher

than seasonal. finally let's go over to the european continent. lots of things are going on. heavy precipitation for parts of the british isles. wet and windy weather in mountains for the southern continent. snow showers are ongoing in the interior areas of the balkan peninsula down toward eastern europe. but still on the dry side up into northwestern russia due to a low pressure system, i should say. high pressure system stretching from siberia. very chilly, minus 14 degrees is your expected high on your monday. minus 9 degrees in kiev. cooler than average temperatures will continue into your friday here. less than 10 degrees in paris and 13 degrees in madrid on your monday. here's your extended forecast.

and we leave you with our top story at this hour. a party that has dominated japanese politics for decades is set to return to power. the liberal democrats have won a strong new man date in the election for the lower house. the liberal democrats have worked together for years with their partners in new komeito. the ldp has won 294 seats, new komeito 31. ldp's leader is taking the seat he has held since 2007. all those seats will allow the liberal democrats to push through their policies. the election sent the ruling democrats tumbling out of power. the dpj has 230 seats heading into the vote. they held onto just 57. and that brings us to the end of "newsline" for now. do join us again at the top of the hour. thanks for joining us.